The Smell of Ashes
by LittleBrewBoy
Summary: It was strange enough waking up in a dark, dank cave. It was weirder finding yourself with a group who you couldn't help but feel you got pulled along with. Though such thoughts likely meant very little in the whims of the gods and the fates. Now, he would have to carve a path for himself and those he holds dear, or fade into ash and dust.


_**The Smell of Ashes**_

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_**Disclaimer:**_

_**This story is meant for entertainment purposes **__**only**__**, so no money is made in its creation. The characters and world are owned by **__**Ao Jūmo**__**nji, **__**Mutsumi Okubashi, Ryosuke Nakamura, and numerous others,**__** as **__**it is their**__** creation. The only things owned by myself are the characters made by me.**_

_**Please support the official release.**_

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_Not all those who wander are lost_

_-J.R.R. Tolkien_

**Chapter one**

**A Crimson Moon's Curse**

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'_**Awaken… Awaken…'**_

A voice echoed within his mind, though he wasn't fully aware of it. Admittedly, he was more annoyed by that someone disturbing his sleep. The man certainly felt wiped, though what from, he couldn't really say.

Actually, now that he was a little more cognizant, he noticed that somehow, he managed to sleep on something rough and hard. Somewhere in his half-conscious thoughts, he wondered how he had managed to catch some z's somewhere so uncomfortable, whatever that phrase meant. Strange thing was, no matter how hard he tried the memory of the night before escaped him. To him, was realization alone was cause for a small groan.

Really now, what the heck happened last night?

Slowly opening his eyes, the man slowly noticed that he could barely see anything. A thought crossed his mind that it might still be night time, but as his eyes wandered through the darkness he noticed a source of sight coming from small candles hanging high up the side of what appeared to rough, uneven walls. Cave walls, he believed. But how did he know that? The thought or whatever is was still eluded him. Looking around, the man noticed the size of whatever area he was in seemed to be rather large. The air was pretty humid, leaving him feeling stifled.

'_How the hell did I get here?'_ He thought, trying to dig through his memories for anything that he might have missed. _'…And where is here anyway?'_

Despite sitting there thinking, he couldn't come up with an answer. But as the minutes passed, the man remained unable to piece anything recently together; his mind drawing a massive blank. A nervous energy coursed through his body and soul as he elected to think back a little further on things, hoping to come across hints of it, before looking beyond to find anything he could think of. Worry slowly became fear as he began to realize his current situation. It's not just that he was unable to remember how he came to the cave. He couldn't even remember where he was before. His parents, his friends, his home; all his memories we're gone.

He forgot everything that made him… _him._

He knew he should've been frantic, doing god knows what to figure out what the hell was going on or something akin to it. Surprisingly, some sort of self-preservation took hold of him instead before he could go off the deep end. That was interesting.

As it stood, he still had no clue on how he ended up in a cave system. And he had no idea if he came here of his own volition. It was certainly possible that…_Something_ brought him here, so it would stand to reason that whatever did might still be here somewhere. Despite all of that, he still had questions. If it was strong enough to bring him to a hole in the ground and take his past from him, whether or not from the blunt force trauma he wasn't feeling or something else, why did it keep him alive? Did it need him for something? Keeping himself as quiet as possible, the man sat there and simply listened to his surroundings, trying to take stock of the situation before he inadvertently spiraled out of control. There was nothing that seemed life-threatening, though if he listened closely enough, he believed he could hear…

…Breathing?

He tensed up, hearing the sound of something sliding against the gritty floor. The sound spread, as several areas echoed the sound. Grunts and groans reverberated around the cavern, as it slowly came to life, and he didn't quite know what to do. If they we're all enemies, then he was properly screwed. One man against who knows how many hostiles? It's like painting a target on your back while screaming 'Kill me!'. The man considered if there were a way to get around them until they heard a fearful voice.

"…Is someone else there?"

He effectively froze at the question, a voice freezing in his throat. Oddly, the man noted that whoever spoke just now sounded rather young.

It was funny. Why was it he never considered the possibility of others being here? While chances of it weren't too high, it was still there! The man mentally face palmed, berating himself for not even taking it into consideration. Though not too much.

He had just woken up after all.

His thoughts were immediately confirmed as several voices responded to the other man.

"Yeah." A male voice replied almost instantly.

"I'm here." Another voice, clearly female, called out.

"Um…" Another guy said.

He was surprised at how many people seemed to be here. Before he could stop himself, his voice rang out into the dark.

"Yeah man, I'm here too." A deep voice came out. At least he wasn't a squeaker.

Wait, what was a squeaker again?

"I thought so." Yet another voice replied.

"How many are here?" One of the voices said. The man chuckled a bit.

"Seems kind of pointless to ask in the dark, don't you think?" He commented in a slightly amused tone.

"Point taken…" They replied, sounding embarrassed.

"More importantly, where's here?" Another voice called out.

"Who knows…"

"Doesn't anyone know?" A slightly frantic woman replied.

"What the hell is this?!"

The man furrowed his brows. Apparently he wasn't the only one who lost his memories, if their reactions are any indication.

'_Several individuals lost in a cave with no recollection of who they were.'_ He thought worryingly. _'The fuck is going on here?'_

"Can't just sit around forever." A guttural voice stated with finality. The sounds of pebbles being crushed underfoot signaling someone standing.

"Where are you going?" A woman asked with a nervous tone.

"Going to try to follow the candles." Husky deadpanned. The man nodded and moved to stand.

"Probably the best course of action." He replied, his voice serious. "Whatever brought us here, it seems to have taken everyone's memories, if our previous conversation is any indication. I'd rather not come across a being like that without at least having done something." The man started walking, his footfalls giving off a faint echo. The soles of his shoes seemed to be pretty sturdy; he couldn't even feel the rocks he was walking over. Evidently, others took his words to heart, and rushed to move.

"I'm going too." one of the girls said firmly.

"Guess I will too." Another guy replied.

"H-hold on, then so will I!" One of the younger voices insisted.

"There's another path the opposite way" Yet another called out. Their voice sounded higher pitched; the only sign telling him they were male was the baritone laced within. "No candles though."

"If you want to go that way, no-one's stopping you." Husky replied.

"Please stick together for now." The man urged, glaring at the back of Husky's head. "We don't know what's happened to cause all this, so we'll have a better chance as one. Be better prepared for whatever may come as a group." He would've told them to stay alert, but he believed everyone was suitably freaked out at this point.

All of them walked along in silence, more than likely trying to process just how they came into this situation. He was no different, though for him it was more trying to see who he was with at this point; as he already came to a semblance of an idea. The man couldn't see much, since it was still pretty dark; the best he could get from some was their build, hair color, and the upper portion of their clothing. Most were too short to be seen properly with what little light they had.

Husky, as he came to call the guttural voice, seemed to have silver hair, and wore a black short sleeve shirt that was so small it was hugging his body. His size, muscle, and clothing cut an intimidating figure. And his actions up till this point didn't exactly do him any favors personality-wise.

'_I'll have to keep an eye on him'_ He decided, before looking around to see if he might recognize anyone, under the hopes of jogging his memory. He was surrounded by people from the front and back. A few of them were close by, his footsteps drawing them to him like moths. He reflected over past events in his head, wondering why people seemed to be sticking to him. Thinking about it he _did_ act quite a bit protective, and though his voice was deep it did sound caring. _'Is that who I was before?'_

…He didn't quite know what to think at that point, so he went back to trying to find any familiar faces instead. Better to focus on the current problem at hand instead of going too deep in his head.

"…Maybe it's best not to think about it." The voice of the first guy said, throwing him out of his mind as he started to listen. The whisper sounded like the first voice he heard after waking up.

"Not think about what?" A younger girl said. It was the first time he heard this voice.

"N-nothing really, it's just…" The first said before going quiet. The man could take a guess as to why.

"You're worried about why you can't remember." He stated, apparently startling the first.

"How…" Was his only response, making the man chuckle quietly.

"Pretty sure everyone here is thinking the same thing, if mine or your reaction to the blank spot in our heads is any indication."

"Yeah…I guess so." First quietly petered out after a moment's thought. He could still feel the nervousness emanate from the timbre of his voice, seemingly hesitant to say anymore.

"…Try not to worry about it too much." He reassured. "We'll figure out what happened when we get out of here. In the meantime, try to focus on the problem at hand." Several moments passed in silence, with no reply from whoever he was talking to.

'_Maybe I'm not very good at consoling people?'_ He thought glumly.

They walked on in silence, just following the line of candles on the wall. All that seemed to lay ahead of them an endless tunnel with very faint light to go by. He couldn't help but wonder how long they had been walking at this point; what with not having the sun or a watch to accurately tell the time.

…

…What the hell is a watch?!

'_This is going to drive me insane, isn't it?'_

Seriously, there must be a hell of a gap in his memory! Could he even remember his own name?!

…

…

…Huh.

Apparently he could.

The man blinked for an instant, surprised at the abrupt end of that thought, before continuing his march. Several minutes, or at least he assumed several, had past. He searched for a familiar face, even if it was a silhouette, but they couldn't make anything out in the near-darkness. He resolved himself to get a better look at everyone present if they ever managed to find their way out of this hole in the ground. And if there _was_ something that brought them here, he hoped it never found them.

Thinking about it alone set him on edge, of a being strong enough to actually bring a crowd to a cave against their will, and remove most, if not all of their history. But really though, it was starting to seem like no such being that existed; since it probably wouldn't have left them alive without valid reason, but this still left the question of how they got here and ended up becoming mostly blank slates in the process. Still, it was better to err on the side of caution, rather than be caught unaware.

"Hey, there's something here!" A voice shouted, snapping his attention to them. "It's bright. Maybe it's a lamp?"

Looking over a few shoulders, he noticed iron bars crossing over each other. They blocked their way forward, were easily larger than an arm in size. There was a small brown lever off to the side; indicating that what lay in the crowd's path was a gate, and that the door might be opened from it. Several people sped up after hearing this.

"It's an iron gate" Husky stated.

"Maybe it's the way out!" Someone replied.

'_God willing it's not a trick…'_ He thought with apprehension. Last thing they needed was a trap door to make them fall deeper into the caves.

Husky walked up to the lever, and the man was given a better view of him under the stronger light. He was wearing white dress pants and black sneakers, though what really drew his attention was his face. Dear god, did he look like a delinquent! The way his eyebrows were framed on his face as if he were constantly angry or judging you, with the shape of his brown eyes. One could forgive him for thinking that he could be a villain!

"I'm gonna open it." He said with finality, pulling the lever down hard. Creaking was heard as the gate slowly crawled upward, disappearing into the ceiling. Several people shouted in surprise and joy at the sight of progress being made. The man chuckled inwardly at the sight.

About a quarter of the way up, he realized they were looking at a spiral staircase. The stairs themselves weren't flat slabs; rather they were stones roughly shaped into the form, each individual stair being slightly larger or smaller than the other.

"Can we get out from there?" A garish looking woman – though that's probably his personal taste talking more than anything though – asked from behind Husky. She wore a green sleeveless shirt that covered a decent bust; with the straps hanging on her arms, a button-up skirt with the last one left open from the front, and white dress shoes. Her long and slightly wavy brown hair ran halfway down her back, with a small part of it in a ponytail, and two strands of it running down her cheeks.

Husky took the lead, with the garish woman pursuing him almost immediately. He himself fell somewhere around the middle when he started his climb for freedom, their footfalls sounding like a beat of a drum in the tight quarters. They eventually led to a putrid smelling hall after a minute or two, the scenery turning into colorless, dilapidated brickwork. In front of them stood a solid iron wall this time; but there was no switch to open the door with this time. Husky walked towards it, and started to slam his fist repeatedly on it, hoping to draw attention to the group.

"Hey! anyone there!? Let us out!" He bellowed, anger passing onto his face. Understandable in his opinion.

'_I'd be surprised if no one heard that...'_ The man slightly cringed, his ears ringing. A modicum of dread inched its way into his brain. _'..._If_ there's anyone there.'_

A chorus of shouts joined the delinquents after a moment, along with some banging on the gate to make more noise. The seconds passed by, and more and more did his worry grow as nothing happened. All of the sudden, a thought came to mind. Did they cause something that required them to be locked up, along with their memories? Were they criminals?

He suddenly became a lot less worried, and a good deal more fearful. If that was the case, were they going to slowly starve to death as punishment?

Such thoughts were thrown out of his mind as the cacophony abruptly died down, revealing to him the sound of muted footsteps clanking towards them on the other side of the door. The man's fears assuaged at the sound of tumblers moving somewhere in the other room, before it was briefly replaced by a loud clacking noise. The gate slowly, but gradually began to inch its way towards the ceiling, almost immediately setting a tone for the rooms occupants. On the other side stood a man wearing full-body armor and outfitted with a sword, with a look of pure apathy on his face.

"Get out." The warrior ordered, looking at them with a stoic expression, giving everyone else within a start with how aloof he was acting about the scenario. Assuming his previous assumption didn't apply, then wouldn't he wonder where they came from? Or why they were calling for help on the other side of the door? It was like he dealt with this quite often.

'_That's _totally _not going to make a guy worry… Wow. I'm very sarcastic aren't I?'_

Marching onward, they came to a well-lit room that had no windows in sight, with a set of stairs on the other side which they quickly climbed, in quite a tizzy to make sure they didn't lose their new guide. They came to a room similar to the last, only there was a lever located in an indent on a wall that the armored man walked up nonchalantly and gave a small tug. The floor trembled, as a hidden door that looked to be made of stonework slowly pulled itself skyward, sliding into a hidden compartment that had opened upon its activation.

"Get out." They said again, jutting their chin in the direction of the new opening.

'_And the conversationalist of the year award goes to…'_ The man concluded bluntly.

As they walked out, he felt a breeze hit his neck, causing him to stop dead momentarily before briefly taking in their surroundings, the first of which being-.

Holy shit, they were _outside_.

He couldn't help but smile and relax after realizing they were outdoors for the first time in god knows how long. The anxiety and fear that had been creeping in had all but disappeared at that simple fact. Sure, there was still the problem with everyone's memories, not to mention where the hell they were in the first place, but being out in the open at least gave them more options instead of just sitting in the dark and dying of starvation.

The sky looked a beautiful midnight blue, with a great deal of stars shining in the sky due to there not being any lights in the vicinity. It was slightly brighter on a point in the horizon, indicating that it was just about dawn, or just past dusk. Looking behind himself, he noticed the building they came out of; a ten-story tower that turned into an obelisk about halfway up, that had no windows anywhere on the side from which he was looking. What grabbed his attention was a crescent moon that hung above everybody's heads, which was a deep crimson.

'_I get the feeling that it's supposed to be a different color…'_ He thought, a shadow of a memory lingering in the back of his mind and causing a small amount of unease, before placing his attention to the people in his little group. He didn't have the time to look at them before in the other rooms, but he could see them well enough under the starlight.

The first of them he noticed was one wearing a gray tank top with green jeans and brown shoes; his chestnut hair buzzed short and trimmed completely on the sides, with a point at the front leading to his eyes. He stared at all of them, as if his was categorizing everyone present, and his arms were crossed over his chest as he leaned on the stone railing; looking as if he were annoyed by everything. Though he was slightly hunched over, he could tell he was tall as he was buff all round.

His eyes crossed over with the man's own, and the tank top fellow quickly turned his gaze, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

'_Didn't realize I was intimidating.'_ He thought with a small amount of curiosity, an eyebrow rising unbidden.

The next was a somewhat skinny teen who was only a few inches shorter than buzz cut, with a mess of dirty blonde hair and a…small black hat of some kind. He had a cross necklace that hung at the middle of his chest, which was covered by a white rimmed tank top that had stripes in two different shades of blue. He seemed to have an olive jacket tied around his waist, partially covering his ripped jeans; and wore black slip-on shoes. Staring ahead with a goofy smile on his face, he looked like he never had a care in the world.

Either that or he was happy from being able to leave that dreadful place, which he could understand and attest to.

"Look, over there. I think that's a town." A slender boy said, the awareness of the man slipping to him. He was of average height; his hair ash brown in color, and he had a sapphire blue t-shirt that was placed over a white dress shirt. Gray and black shoes were worn over black socks, with black dress pants rolled up just above the ankles.

"Kind of looks more like a castle to me…" The raven haired boy next to him replied, adjusting the glasses on his face. He himself wore a large gray long-sleeve shirt that was rolled up past his elbows and went past his waist, slightly covering the black dress pants that cut off above his ankles and black shoes.

Turning his field of vision to what they were describing, and found a series of lights off in the distance. The area seemed to be on a hillside overlooking the ocean, and had a large towering wall to ward off any possible attacks. He hoped there was no reason to actually need them… and that whoever lived there was friendly. The buildings were placed close together, telling them it was heavily populated. The man barely heard a whisper from behind him, though he didn't pay it much mind.

"So…Where is this?" A quiet feminine voice asked from behind him. Turning his head he found himself facing a petite, lavender haired, purple eyed girl with, uh…_decent_ assets. She wore a sky blue dress that was covered by a baby blue sweater vest, and white socks tucked in black slip-on shoes.

"No use asking me, I have no clue." The first replied. Snapping his attention to them, he noticed he was of average height, though the man was a few inches taller than him. He wore a red sweater over a white shirt, had black shorts and sneakers with a white bottom. The boy caught the man looking at him and flinched slightly. The man made a placating gesture with his hands, keeping a small smile on his face to tell him he meant no harm; making The First relax after a moment and return a jittery smile of his own.

'_A step in the right direction with him, at least.'_

"Does anyone know?" The small busty girl pleaded; a small amount of panic growing in her words. "Where are we?"

Only silence permeated the area, a feeling of grim fear for their situation. He was no different, though the man and what looked to be a few others didn't let it control them.

"Seriously?" the dirty blonde said. He couldn't blame him for that reaction.

"…While I'll admit that our lack of memories _is_ a pressing concern-" The man started, earning the gazes of everyone present. "-At least were not stuck within a cave anymore, which is definitely a better prospect than the alternative. Not to mention there's a town we can head to so we maybe won't starve, not to mention ask questions." Slowly several nodded at this. The surrounding tension lessened extensively. "Come to think of it, we could ask the guards back there where we are since were here so we have a gene-"

His voice was cut off by the sound of rumbling coming from behind him. The man turned quickly, and bore witness to the hidden door sliding back into place with an audible boom; shaking the ground around them before all was silent again. The guards stood on either side of where the door was, looking at them warily.

"…Well. No turning back now." The dirty blonde spoke with dull finality.

"So… what do we do now?" The redheaded girl asked, though he noted that her phrasing a bit strange. Her hair was tied into one long braid from the back that hung off her shoulder, and onto her yellow sweater that was rolled up past her biceps. She was clothed in red puffy shorts and brown and red shoes.

"Well, again, we cou-"

"There they are, right on time!" A shrill voice called out, making a few of them jump.

Looking around, he didn't really think it was said by any of the ladies they were with; the tone was too different from the ones he'd heard. The only one he didn't hear the voice of was the little girl they were with, and she looked just as confused as the rest of them.

"Everyone appeared, huh, came to visit, huh. Where I say? Here I say!" They talked as if they were having a one-sided conversation with themselves.

"Where's here!?" The dirty blonde replied.

"Doooon't rush, doooon't shout, doooon't let your hair down, doooon't rip your hair out!" From what they could gleam, they sounded as if they were talking from around a corner. "Cha-lalalalalaaan, cha-lalalalalaaan, lalan…" They started singing for some reason, causing nearly everybody to sweat drop, the man included. A young woman popped out from the corner, her hair tied into pig-tails.

"Hello!" She began, a Cheshire grin etched into her face. "How are you? Welcome to Grimgar! Pleased to meet you. My names Hiyomu. Nice to meet you, too? Kyapeeee-"

"She's… certainly eccentric." The man mumbled. He rubbed his chin in interest. "Grimgar, huh? That the name of this town?"

Growling could be heard within earshot. Confused, he looked around to find Crew Cut grating his teeth together as they clenched their fists tightly.

"Can you cut that out?" He barked, pushing off of the railing and walking towards the small girl.

"Eek!" She screamed, jumping beyond the corner of the wall. The man sighed. If this was how most people acted in that town, then he didn't know how long he'd keep his sanity. Slowly, the girl poked her head out beyond the corner. It looked horribly exaggerated; to the point where the entire group had noticed it, even the stranger people in their group. "Very scary. Very frightening. Please don't be thaaaaat mad. Okay? Okay? Okay, okay, okay?"

"Then stop pissing me off!" He snarled.

"Unnnnnnderstoood-" Hiyomu lept out from the corner, giving a small curtsey. "Hiyomu will mind her manners. Carefully mind her manners! Is this okay? Is this okay? Kyoheee-"

"You're doing that on purpose!" Crew Cut snarled.

Looking on at his actions, the man couldn't help but worry. Considering how she was acting towards him, she was either crazy or she didn't feel threatened in the least, which brought up a whole _other_ can of worms on why that could be. He warily eyed the surrounding area for possible hostiles, but found nothing that he could immediately pick out, so he instead gave the girl another closer look. He noticed fairly quickly a small glint that was almost imperceptible under her dull blue long coat. Focusing his attention there, his eyes slowly widened in slight panic when he noticed the two daggers.

Walking towards the two, he placed a hand on tank top's shoulder to get his attention. He let out a small snarl as he violently turned, which almost immediately petered out the moment their eyes met.

"…I can understand that you're frustrated." He stated, somehow maintaining a level voice while never breaking his stare. "But do keep in mind were in parts unknown. Not to mention she seems to be geared for combat, if the daggers underneath her coat are a good indicator."

Crew Cut paled a slight degree at his declaration, turning sharply to take a second, more thorough look at her. A few, most notably First, Redhead, and a couple of others had taken a few wary steps back from her, eyeing her with caution.

"Awww~! Come on~." The girl in questioned whined. "Why do you gotta ruin my fun~?"

"You mean scaring people, acting like the queen of loopy motherfuckers, or both?" He asked dryly. She thought on it for a few seconds before giving him a large grin.

"Both!"

"Of course..." The man muttered under his breath, facepalming. He to a knee so he was level with her. "Look, while I'm sure you're trying to help a few of us relax a bit by acting silly, it's not really working. All of us are pretty worried about a...few subjects, so-."

"You mean how you can't remember?"

"Um...Yes, that." He blinked.

A thought then quickly tore its way through his head. The last few minutes, or hour for all he knew, spiraled together to paint a sobering picture, leaving him dumbfounded for more than a few seconds, and getting a few concerned looks from his compatriots at his expression. His eyes narrowed.

"We aren't the first people with amnesia to come through here, are we?" He stated more than asked

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner~!" Hiyomu giggled, twirling in place with her arms akimbo.

Everyone went silent at her proclamation, himself included, apparently taking a moment to fully register in most peoples heads. A few people were silent, while a few others muttered in disbelief. He himself having come to that conclusion had instead begun to ruminate in his thoughts, wondering what in the fuck was happening to cause a mass exodus of amnesiacs.

'_It would make sense though, considering how the guards barely reacted with a glance towards us.'_

His mind snapped back into place at the sounds of someone beginning to hyperventilate. Looking over his shoulder, the man found the well-endowed quiet girl looking just an inch off from losing it, her head being held in her hand.

"What is this..." She said, panicked, collapsing to her knees. "What is this..!"

The guy who spotted the...whatever it was, quickly made his way over to her, his expression genuinely concerned as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Whoa, okay, easy now." He said, none too kindly. "Take deep breaths."

The girl gave a shaky nod after a few moments, slowly steadying her breathing. He couldn't focus on that, however, as crew-cut looked ready to spill blood. Hell, even a few others looked ready to swarm her for answers, though with her being as odd as she was, and _armed _no less...

"Look-" He decided to cut off any chance for rebuttal instead. "-I can only assume that there's a reason you came here right? Otherwise, I'd doubt you'd be here."

"Yup!" She gave a toothy smile. "My commanding officer would like a word with all of you."

"What, you think were willing to follow you, just like that?" Crew-cut half shouted. "You basically admitted to wanting to fuck around with us! Not to mention neglecting to say a word about our memory loss! Why the fuck should we trust you?!"

"Well, if you want to find some paid word that will keep you in house and home, I suppose you should~." Hiyomu replied curtly, though retaining her playful voice. The change in personality there was a little jarring to more than a few of them. She gave a mirthless grin. "Unless you prefer being starving and homeless~."

Considering everything, it was fair to say that she had everyone here by the balls right now. After all, she was dead on the money there. They were folks with nothing to their name other than…well, their name. At least, his name anyway. Wasn't too sure about the others yet. And while they _might_ be able to find something better, for all they knew it could take a while to get to that point. Crew-cut seemed to reach that realization, too; scoffing and rubbing a hand through his hair while turning and walking away. The whole thing really was surreal to them. But, again, how much of a choice did they actually have right now?

"And what exactly does your boss want us to do?" Husky asked, voice as sharp as the knives she was carrying.

"Nothing bad~. But I can't say." She said in all seriousness, putting her hands on her hips. "You will have to talk with him yourselves.

They all, him included, shifted nervously. It could just as well be a trap, but…

"...It's not like we have a lot of other options." The man sighed. "At the very least, we could try to get answers about what's going on, but..."

"But it's possible were being played. Yeah." Husky nodded, coming to the same deduction. Both of them mulled over it for a few seconds, though it looked like the girl, even in her silliness, wouldn't wait much longer. Eventually Husky gave him a look that told him what he wanted to do, and shrugged his shoulders in response to make his own feelings on the matter apparent.

"...Fine. We'll follow you." Husky answered for him. Hiyomu giggled again, looking to have turned back into her former personality, and gave a small twirl in place before she then bolted off back where she came; where a flight of stairs were located now that he looked beyond the corner.

Idly, he stood, turning to face everyone else, and found they seemed quite nervous themselves. It looked like they had come to the same inference both he and Husky did.

"Lets go." Husky sounded like he was giving an order, moving to follow the girl, wherever she was going. Everyone watched on for a second, before beginning to move.

Light had just begun to crest the horizon, giving them a better view of their surroundings, and able to more easily spot their spunky guide; who was currently standing at the base of the stairs with her arms waving in the air. They all moved to follow, standing in small groups as they chatted away. Even he wasn't exempt from that fact, having a couple of others standing close by. Whether this was out of worry for their situation, he couldn't say.

The two guards from earlier had either elected to stay behind, or they were there on orders to guard the place. Frankly, he wasn't sure, and didn't care all that much. Good riddance to that place!

"Where do you think their bringing us?" He heard Redhead say next to him. The man blinked, and looked over to find her looking directly at him. It looked like she asked him, but he looked beside him just to be sure, only finding both First, and the petite girl, both of them huddling close by.

Strangely, he felt a bit uncomfortable. Was he not good in groups?

"Honestly? I haven't the foggiest." He admitted. "She said 'Commanding Officer', so I think were heading for some form of garrison or the like."

"What if she's lying though?" The petite girl asked, worry clear in her tone. "We might be walking into a trap!"

"Well first off, there's too many unknown factors to come to conclusions. Well, any _good_ conclusions, anyway." He started. "Second, as much as I hate to say it...it's not like we have much of a choice in the matter. It's like she said after all; we can follow her and _maybe_ find ourselves a self-sustaining job, or we can sit around, be homeless. Possibly starve to death too."

First and Redhead winced at his bluntness, while the petite girl shrunk in a little bit on herself. The man sighed at their reactions.

"Look, I'm sorry if I'm being a little too blunt. The current situations made me more than a little curt, I suppose." The man apologized. "Silver lining; at least we're in a large enough group that we can hopefully get away if things go south. Though, considering who she wants us to meet for this job..."

"What's wrong?" First asked, looking filled with unease at his reaction.

"Well...You know how she said 'Commanding Officer' right?"

"Yeah?" He nodded slowly. A couple of seconds passed before it finally clicked. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." He mirrored First's words, his eyes wandering about the area. They'd gotten a fair decent area cleared, now looking to be about halfway from the town or fort or whatever they were heading to. The rolling hills slowly morphed into a wooden fence that surrounded a large area of tombstones, though what grabbed his attention, and curdled whatever food he had eaten before being brought here, was just how _many_ of the damned things there were. They numbered well into the hundreds from what he could tell, and though some of them looked decently old, none of them had that broken down look to tell him it had been there a long time. All of these were still fairly new.

And if that didn't just terrify him. It looked to go a fair ways in the distance no less! Recognizing all of this, a question came to the forefront. Just what entailed this much death? And further to the point, if it was related to the job Hiyomu was talking about, what is it that they needed them to do?

Looking at the others, he found only a few of them had come to a similar conclusion, either looking pale, grim, or both. The rest simply questioned the change in their demeanor, but didn't do much more than that.

Not wanting to disturb what peace the rest of them had gained, he had decided to keep it to himself until they settled down.

"So, uh..." First started, clumsily trying to start a conversation. "What are your names?"

Redhead perked, her eyes lighting up.

"Oh yeah! I was meaning to ask that, but didn't find the chance to through all this drama!" She gave a silly smile. "I'm Yume. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm...Shihoru." The petite girl mumbled, looking shaken still. Hopefully she'd get over it soon.

"Oh, uh, I'm Haruhiro." First awkwardly followed after. The man gave a small nod to that, before belatedly realizing they were looking at him now.

"Right, sorry. Name's Diggory. It would be a pleasure, if it were under better circumstances."

"Yeah, I totally get that." Yume grinned, throwing her hands behind her head. "Yume is still frazzled with all this!"

"...You talk in the third person?" Diggory snorted in amusement, hand covering his smile. It turned into a full on chuckle when she stuck her tongue out at him, though it was in good nature. Even the other two, however unknown to them it may be, began to grow small smiles of their own. Sure, it was only for a moment, but she was good at getting people out of their funk, wasn't she?

He moved to lower his hand, but stopped when he noted the black glove he was wearing, which led to what looked to be a very thick black jacket. Diggory looked down at himself, seeing for the first time – which really should have been sooner, but again, current situations abound – the clothing he was wearing. A thick black jacket with a thick, fur lined hood that ran a little ways passed his waist, with blue jeans; whatever that word meant to him, that went underneath a set of large black boots held in place by straps.

'_Well, I can see how the others were a bit intimidated by me.'_ He thought sardonically. _'I guess the clothes really _do_ make the man.'_

It took a few seconds for the phrase to register to him. He felt so sure of its meaning in the moment, but now? Diggory just felt perturbed at the hole in his head.

What the hell was going on?

The scenery slowly began to change, bit by bit. The morphed from walking on a hillside into a grassland, and the road turned in stonework; first some cobblestone, and then full on brickwork when they started getting close to one of the walls of the town.

The sight of a large gate filled him with a small sense of comfort. Of something familiar. Which was saying something considering the situation they woke up to.

Two guards, both covered in full plate armor, stood next to the closed entrance on the opposite end of a bridge that hung over a moat; looking more than a little bored at current, yet glad to be doing nothing else. The snapped at attention at the sight of Hiyomu, giving her a crisp salute, which she nodded to, and moved into action; shouting at someone over the wall. It took a few seconds, but the gate began to move at a snails pace, giving a small groan of protest as it came down, connecting the bridge with the rest of the town when the former finally rested on its edge.

Looking beyond, they found a town that was slowly coming to life. Though they could only see the street in front of them, he found a few people trying to sell items and wares of all kinds; ranging from clothes and underwear, to utensils and tools, and even food; which garnered quite a few peoples attention, and rumbled more than a few stomachs. Further in they found others that were selling armor or weapons. A shadow of a memory lingered for a brief second, telling him that these were woefully outdated; but couldn't figure out for the life of him why.

He watched some of the people from the corners of his eyes as they passed, looking to notice anything out of the ordinary. Though he doubted they'd do anything right now with her around, since the guards looked to trust her a great deal, Diggory figured it'd be for the best to get a lay of the land.

One thing that stood out was the fact that these people seemed incredibly wary of them; staring at them as if they were thieves. Not to mention that what he could only assume were mercenaries were eyeing them either has enemies or lumps of tasty meat. And of the two, he didn't know what worried him more.

Apparently some of the others had noticed, clustering closer together in their respective groups. Namely the dirty blonde, crew-cut, the gaudy woman, the raven haired man and the little girl all huddled closer around Husky, who glared down anyone who so much as wandered in their direction.

There were some, or should he say one, that didn't really give a damn one way or another. His red hair stood like an unkempt afro; wearing a purple sleeveless shirt underneath a black vest, with olive green pants and black shoes.

His ruby red eyes wandered around the area, mostly taking in the sights. Whether or not he noticed the stares they were getting, he didn't know. Maybe he did, but it was just as likely he was oblivious. Though he didn't want to assume before getting to know him. His eyes wandered to behind him at the feeling of the fabric of his jacket being pulled, and found Shihoru looking around nervously with a hand on his arm.

'_Huh...was I ever this close to a girl before?' _Diggory blinked at the close contact, having a slightly delayed reaction. He smiled, giving a gentle sigh before whispering to both her and the others close by and pointing to Hiyomu. "Just stay close. We should be alright if we stick next to her. At least until we reach our destination."

Most of them gave a tense nod, while Shihoru simply gripped his arms a little tighter. He supposed that was the best answer he'd get from them. Surprisingly enough, Yume moved to stand beside her, trying to give the poor girl some presence of mind before she started to hyperventilate again. It was certainly appreciated.

It wasn't too long – five minutes at most – for them to reach where Hiyomu wanted them to be. Though when he imagined a garrison, he thought it'd be a little larger.

It was, for the most part, a two story building; looking just like any other building, save for two things. Namely the large white flag that bore the symbol of what he assumed to be the red crescent moon, and the multiple torches and braziers placed all around the building; giving it quite the foreboding feeling.

Diggory swallowed, his nerves going off like mad at the sight before them. It was a little lessened by mornings pale light starting to come over the horizon, but after what they've been dealing with rather quickly in the last hour or so, well…

Let's just say he was pleasantly surprised none of them had gone on a proper bender at any point.

Crew Cut certainly got close, he would admit.

Hiyomu rushed ahead, giving the door a quick knock before tearing it open and launching herself inside. He was starting to wonder if her zany attitude was for show or not.

They all walked in single file, and when he entered, he noted that the inside looked...quaint. Sure, it had the bearings of a garrison somewhat, but there were little nick-knacks and the like that made it a little more homely.

"Hello, kittens." A demure male voice greeted them. Diggory turned to find a man with pink hair sitting behind a desk in the back of the room, with a smiling Hiyomu standing a little ways off from him. "Welcome to Grimgar."

* * *

**To all those who are new to my works, greetings!**  
**I've been ruminating on this little work for a while now, and figured "What the hell!", and decided to give it a go.**  
**I promise no likelihood of consistent updates, but I do hope you enjoy the ride while it goes on.**

**For those who come from my other works, well, I hope you enjoy!**

**Stay Sober!**


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